System and Method for Providing Configurable Automated Insurance Policy Acquisition Infrastructure for Selective Acquisition of Insurance Products Related to Competitive Wagering Games

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a scalable and modular system and method for providing an automated infrastructure and components thereof, for offering, to participants in competitive wagering (or other prize-bearing) ranked outcome game events, easy to acquire pre-configurable insurance policies, that upon acquisition thereof for a particular game event, reduce the policyholder&#39;s risk of losing at least a portion of their stake paid into that game event, by automatically providing at least partial reimbursement of the stake when a predefined coverage condition is met. In various embodiments thereof, the inventive system and method comprise various automated user-driven selective policy acquisition infrastructure models. Advantageously, various embodiments of the present invention may be utilized as modules for stand-alone platforms usable with game events offered by any online competitive wagering game provider, or they may be used in whole or in part as modular solutions.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present patent application claims priority from, the commonly assigned co-pending U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 61/482,185, entitled “System and Method for Providing Configurable Automated Insurance Policy Acquisition Infrastructure for Selective Acquisition of Insurance Products Related to Competitive Wagering Games”, filed May 3, 2011.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to competitive wagering game events that require at least one stake or fee as a prerequisite for player entry therein, and that conclude with a game event outcome record, at least in part comprising a ranked list of game participants (e.g., players) representative of the players' performance relative to one another, in which a predefined number of highest ranked players are eligible to receive corresponding prizes, and more particularly relates to a system and method for providing a flexible and modular infrastructure for dynamically offering a pre-configurable and easy to acquire insurance policy to game participants, that upon acquisition thereof for a particular game event, reduces the policy holder's risk of losing at least a portion of their stake in that game event, through subsequent provision of at least partial reimbursement of the stake when a predefined coverage condition is met.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Virtually all competitive prize-bearing ranked outcome game events (such as poker and other wagering game tournaments, as well as in most online tournament-based Internet based competitive games), have the following key characteristics:

-   -   (1) they require game participants to take game entry-related         risk (for example by payment of an event entry fee, such as a         “buy-in” in poker tournaments); and     -   (2) at the conclusion of the game event, the performance of all         game participants is ranked relative to one another, and         corresponding event prizes are provided only to participants in         a predetermined number of highest ranked positions (“winning         positions”), with game participants in the remaining lower         ranked positions (“losing positions”) suffering losses of at         least their game event entry fees, which in many cases can be         quite substantial.

Not surprisingly, game participants in losing positions that are ranked closest to the lowest ranked winning position, often experience a great deal of frustration in coming relatively close to some victory, but nonetheless having to walk away from a game event with empty hands. Furthermore, in larger events, players in such “almost good enough to win” event outcome positions may have performed relatively well in the event, which further adds to their frustration at a “close loss”. For many players, repeated placements over time in such “close loss” losing positions, lead to disenchantment and loss of interest in competitive stake-based game events, resulting in decreased game event participation.

As a result, attempts have been made to provide solutions to enable game participants, in losing positions that are proximal to the lowest ranked winning position, to recover at least a portion of their stake in the game event (such as their entry fee or buy-in). One set of approaches, that achieved at least some success in the field of poker tournaments (and especially online tournaments), involves the offering of special stake-related insurance policies to tournament participants that pay out only when a policy holder finishes the tournament within a certain amount of rank positions below the lowest ranked “winning” or pay-out position (also referred to as finishing “on the bubble”).

Such solutions, often referred to as “Bubble Insurance”, are offered in different variations both by game event operations, as well as by separate companies working therewith, and typically comprise many variations in their parameters and terms and conditions. For example, one previously known bubble insurance provider offers bubble policies for an insurance fee that is determined as a percentage of the buy-in/rake fee, where the number of the event outcome positions within the “bubble” that are covered by the policy are determined on a sliding scale as a portion of the total number of tournament participants (“field size”), and where the bubble policies pay out 150% of the policyholder's non-rake portion of the buy-in fee only if a policyholder finishes the game event in one of the predefined bubble positions.

Other proposed solutions, such as disclosed in the U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/410,690 to Nardizzi et al., offer variations on the above, such as integrating the bubble insurance policy acquisition process into the flow of a poker tournament and providing a two-tier bubble policy where the players have the option of paying an additional policy fee to be eligible to get a policy payout if they finish at a rank that is outside, but close to, the conventional range of bubble position ranks—a form of a secondary bubble.

However, all previously known bubble insurance solutions suffer from a number of significant disadvantages and drawbacks that have prevented them from gaining more than a marginal level of acceptance/popularity:

-   -   (a) there is no standardization of any kind between various         bubble insurance offerings, and with each provider having a         myriad set of rules, policy parameters, as well as restrictions         that limit their use to only certain specific types of         tournament game events (or to events from predefined event         operators only), players wishing to purchase bubble insurance in         connection with different game events need to subject themselves         to multiple different time consuming policy acquisition         processes, familiarize themselves with, and track different sets         of policy rules, terms and conditions for policies purchased for         each corresponding game event—a complex and time-consuming         endeavor unnecessarily distracting players from gameplay;     -   (b) in view of (a) above, unless bubble insurance is offered and         provided as an integral in-house aspect of a particular poker         tournament (which carries a number of legal and other         complications), many players simply don't even think about (or         forget the existence of) bubble insurance offerings, essentially         neglecting them;     -   (c) because most non-in-house bubble policies comprise strict         timed claim rules, policyholders must remember to check their         claim eligibility after conclusion of each event for which they         hold a policy, and then to formulate and submit each claim for         processing within a relatively short period of time (typically         within 48 hours of an event conclusion), where if they miss this         deadline or if they submit their claim with any errors, the         policy claim will be denied. Clearly, this arrangement places         additional burdens on game participants and can lead to further         frustration when otherwise eligible claims are unpaid due to a         missed claim deadline or an error in a submitted claim         settlement request; and     -   (d) the tight-knit integration of the current bubble insurance         offerings with various poker tournaments, limits their         utilization only in connection therewith, precluding their         utilization with non-poker competitive stake-based prize-bearing         game events, such as online video game tournaments, sports         tournaments, “casual games” competitive events for online games         utilizing virtual currencies, etc.

Advantageously, various embodiments of a novel system and method for comprehensively resolving virtually all of the above-described challenges and issues are taught and described in the commonly assigned co-pending U.S. patent application entitled “SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING CONFIGURABLE PLAYER STAKE-RELATED INSURANCE FOR PREDETERMINED RANGE OF PAYOUT POSITIONS IN COMPETITIVE WAGERING GAMES, HAVING AUTOMATED POLICY ACQUISITION AND CLAIM RESOLUTION FUNCTIONS”, application Ser. No. 13/463,773 (hereinafter, the “'773 application”), that is hereby incorporated herein in its entirety.

However, while the '773 application offered various flexible comprehensive solutions comprising a range of modular components from insurance policy formulation, to automatic claim settlement, it would be very advantageous and useful to provide a user-centric flexible and modular infrastructure for dynamically offering various pre-configurable and easy to acquire insurance policies for reducing financial risks associated with entry into, and participation in, various competitive game events, that may be offered to, and/or acquired by, registered users on a selective case-by-case basis, or on an ongoing subscription basis. It would also be desirable to provide the above-described infrastructure system and method that are configurable for compatibility with any number of approaches/techniques for determining and settling policy claims, ranging from manual claim identification and submission by policyholders, to partially, or fully automated claims identification and settlements (such as disclosed in the '773 application).

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the drawings, wherein like reference characters denote corresponding or similar elements throughout the various figures:

FIG. 1 is an exemplary schematic diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a process flow representative of the basic operation of an inventive system for providing, to participants in competitive prize-bearing ranked outcome game events, easy to acquire pre-configurable insurance policies, that upon acquisition thereof for a particular game event, reduce the policy holder's risk of losing at least a portion of their stake paid into that game event; and

FIG. 2 is an exemplary schematic block diagram illustrating an exemplary embodiment of the inventive system for performing various steps set forth in the inventive process flow of FIG. 1.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a scalable and modular system and method for providing an automated infrastructure and components thereof, for offering, to participants in competitive wagering (or other prize-bearing) ranked outcome game events, easy to acquire pre-configurable insurance policies, that upon acquisition thereof for a particular game event, reduce the policyholder's risk of losing at least a portion of their stake paid into that game event, by automatically providing at least partial reimbursement of the stake when a predefined coverage condition is met.

In various embodiments thereof, the inventive system and method comprise an automated user-driven selective policy acquisition infrastructure model, that may range from a “registration and selective utilization” model to a comprehensive “subscription” model, and that is operable to acquire information relating to users' entries into eligible game events (through one or more techniques such as manual selection by a user, automatic user event activity tracking, and/or through information received from game event operators/organizers, etc.), and automatically offer corresponding stake-related or other game event participation-related policies therefor (preferably based on pre-selected terms, such that users need not go through a lengthy policy acquisition process for each desired game event).

Advantageously, various embodiments of the present invention may be utilized as modules for stand-alone platforms usable with game events offered by any online competitive wagering game provider, or they may be used in whole or in part as modular solutions that can be used by particular competitive game event providers as part of their event registration and participation process. Finally, the inventive system and method may be utilized to provide the above-noted insurance solutions in connection with any competitive game event involving participant-provided stakes (such as entry fees, or equivalents), where only a predefined number of ranked outcomes are prize-bearing.

Other objects and features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It is to be understood, however, that the drawings are designed solely for purposes of illustration and not as a definition of the limits of the invention, for which reference should be made to the appended claims.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The system and method of the present invention addresses the flaws and disadvantages of previously known “bubble insurance”-related solutions, by providing various advantageous embodiments of a scalable and modular system and method for dynamically offering, to participants in competitive wagering (or other prize-bearing) ranked outcome game events (on a selective utilization and/or subscription basis), easy to acquire pre-configurable insurance policies, that upon acquisition thereof for a particular game event, reduces the policy holder's risk of losing at least a portion of their stake paid into that game event, by facilitating provision of at least partial reimbursement of the stake, when a predefined coverage condition is met.

In various embodiments thereof, the inventive system and method comprise an automated user-driven selective policy acquisition infrastructure model, that may range from a “registration and selective utilization” model to a comprehensive “subscription” model, and that is operable to acquire information relating to users' entries into eligible game events (through one or more techniques such as manual selection by a user, automatic user event activity tracking, and/or through information received from game event operators/organizers, etc.), and automatically offer corresponding stake-related or other game event participation-related policies therefor (preferably based on pre-selected terms, such that users need not go through a lengthy policy acquisition process for each desired game event).

Advantageously, various embodiments of the present invention may be utilized as modules for stand-alone platforms usable with game events offered by any online competitive wagering game provider, or they may be used in whole or in part as modular solutions that can be used by particular competitive game event providers as part of their event registration and participation process. Finally, the inventive system and method may be utilized to provide the above-noted insurance solutions in connection with any competitive game event involving participant-provided stakes (such as entry fees, or equivalents), where only a predefined number of ranked outcomes are prize-bearing.

In various embodiments thereof, the inventive system and method comprise at least one of the following advantageous features:

-   -   (1) an automated selective policy acquisition infrastructure         that is operable to track subscribers' entry into eligible game         events, and automatically offer corresponding stake-related         policies therefor (optionally based on standardized and/or         pre-selected terms, such that subscribers need not go through a         lengthy policy acquisition process for each desired game event),         that may be implemented as an online “pop-up” (or equivalent)         software module, optionally with one or more additional useful         feature, such as a calculator, that also serves as reminder of         policy availability to a game participant as they enter a game         event;     -   (2) a subscription-type flexible stake-based competitive         game-related insurance service infrastructure in which         subscribers would be able to generate pre-configured desired         policy templates for one or more eligible game event types so         that a corresponding pre-configured policy may be offered to         them in connection with their entry into an eligible game event,         requiring little more effort for acquisition than their decision         to either purchase or decline the policy for that event         (optionally, various degrees of user-determined policy offering         automation and/or pre-configuration can readily be provided with         user-driven decision-making relating to pre-configure policy         offers—from “single-click” policy purchases, to options to         enable a use to re-configure all or part of their default policy         template prior to purchase); and     -   (3) automated policyholder-driven claim payout allocation, such         that payouts on any settled claims may be automatically         delivered/routed to a payment destination of policyholder's         choice (bank account, PayPal account, one or more designated         charitable organizations, etc.), or returned to the subscriber's         insurance policy account for use in purchasing future policies.

In accordance with the present invention, the various embodiments of the above-described infrastructure system and method are preferably configurable for compatibility with any number of approaches/techniques for determining and settling policy claims, ranging from manual claim identification and submission by policyholders, to partially, or fully automated claims identification and settlements (such as disclosed in the '183 application), as a matter of design choice or convenience, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

Advantageously, various embodiments of the present invention may be utilized as stand-alone modules or platforms integrated with any currently available or future game-event-related insurance policy provision system and usable with events offered by any online competitive wagering game provider, or they may be used in whole, or in part, as modular solutions that can be integrated by various particular competitive game event providers into their game event registration and game event operation processes.

Finally, the inventive system and method may be utilized to provide the above-noted insurance solutions in connection with any competitive game event having at least entry fees (or equivalent), where only a predefined number of ranked outcomes are prize-bearing, and optionally may further be utilized to insure virtually any game-related financial risks taken by a game participant, including, but not limited to, wagering risks (such as wagers associated with one more rounds of a poker game).

Thus, while there have been shown and described and pointed out fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the devices and methods illustrated, and in their operation, may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit of the present invention. For example, it is expressly intended that all combinations of those elements and/or method steps which perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve the same results are within the scope of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the claims appended hereto. 

1. A data processing system infrastructure for dynamically offering, to at least one participant in a competitive prize-bearing ranked outcome game event, a pre-configurable insurance policy comprising at least one predefined coverage condition, that upon acquisition thereof for a particular game event, reduces the policy holder's risk of losing at least a portion of their financial risk associated with their participation in the game event, comprising: monitoring means for selectively or automatically determining when a game participant enters into an eligible competitive game event that involves participant financial risk associated with game event participation; and policy offer means for selectively or automatically offering, to said game participant, in connection with their participation in said eligible competitive game event, a corresponding configurable insurance policy compatible with said eligible competitive game event, wherein said configurable policy comprises at least one predefined coverage condition.
 2. The data processing system of claim 1, wherein said configurable policy offered by said policy offer means is at least in part based on a predefined policy template previously configured by said game participant. 